Tkarkiba, Libya - Day 67 - Boots on the Loose

After 2 nights spent in Ghadames (highlight was walking through the Old City, and trying to get a wire soldered for my charger), passed through Sabha for lunch which turned out to be the town where all the tour guides lived (about 2 hours from starting point fo 4WD tour). Got to camp in Tkarkiba around dinner, which sits right at the foot of the sand dune sea. Of course Jen, Jamie and I had to climb to the top right away; surprisingly it isn’t that difficult and only took about 10 minutes (mind you we eventually climbed others that were much bigger!) Decided to stay in the tents that night to save a little cash (as opposed to one of the bungalows).

Next morning drove straight south for about 3 hours down the highway (and I mean STRAIGHT). Started the off-road about 150km north of the Algerian border (apparently Niger’s not very far away either). Within about 30 minutes of driving we found ourselves in this beautiful mixture of orange sand and black rock jutting out everywhere. Wandered through a combination of sandy flats and canyons (at about 120kph) for a good 2 hours, and stopped to setup camp. It’s amazing how fast Toyota Land Cruisers can go offroad (often I’d be a little nervous as the contours in the sand can be very deceiving, but we were in very good hands I think). Setup the shittiest little tents which the tour company provides, but after 1 night of enduring it flapping in the wind, pretty much everyone was sleeping under the stars (even Jen!!). What an incredible experience sleeping under the stars in the Sahara; I usually found myself up after everyone, keeping the contact lenses in so I could lie there and stare.

We got really lucky picking the truck we did; driver’s name was Abdulla and knew the area better than the other 5 drivers, which meant we always led the way. Very nice guy, but hardly spoke any English; listened to 1 of 2 tapes continuously each day… luckily it was good music out of Mali (as opposed to the irritating stuff that’s so commonly played). It’s absolutely unbelievable how well the drivers know the area; about 6 hours of driving each day for 5 days, often not a landmark in sight (not a single sign anywhere), usually watching the sun’s direction looking for known tire tracks, or a familiar tree/rock, or who knows what else; we travelled around 500km over the whole trip like this, and not a single time did it feel like Abdulla didn’t know exactly where he was.

Next day was mainly driving up a valley/canyon stopping every little while to look at old rock art (most of it from around 5000BC)… many people seemed very skeptical about it and I couldn’t help but to agree. It often just didn’t add up how bright some of them were on such weathered rock faces – perhaps they were touched up which I suppose wouldn’t be the end of the world (they were definitely real as there were usually government signs at each site). Some of the drawings were of sub-Saharan animals that used to be in the area which I thought was cool (when the area was lush – elephants, giraffes, rhinos, etc). Best was a beautifully carved/preserved elephant from 10,000BC. Spent the night on the edge of a different set of dunes in a little bowl that the drivers knew of. All throughout the excursion it was incredible how much the landscape changed – you literally couldn’t drive more than 15 minutes without everything looking completely different.

Third day was likely the least memorable (though rapidly changing!) Lots of flats at high speeds – some gravel, sand, salt, rock; lunch was spent at a big dune which was nice, and the camp was on the edge of a different dune sea (the largest we had seen to date). Best part of the day was watching the guys tie a strap from the truck to a tree to pull off branches for the fire at night, only to be beaten by sitting at the top of a MASSIVE sand dune for sunset; climbing a sand dune and running down it has been something I’ve looked forward to for a long time… it’s everything I hoped for (sliding down on a garbage bag isn’t 🙂

Fourth day we headed into town after lunch (called Jerma) briefly checked out the archeological museum which ironically was nothing to write home about (except a mummy that was 2 years old was cool). Most of it about the cave paintings we saw, but written in Arabic so not easy to figure out. Afterwards we headed to the set of dunes on the east side of the highway which joined up with the original starting point. We knew we were in for a treat when all the drivers got out to let a bunch of air out of their tires (for traction on the sand). Drove about an hour or so straight in (up to this point we were always staying towards the edge of the dunes); setup camp at yet another postcard spot, this time on the edge of a giant vally of sand. Jamie and I climbed to the top of 2 peaks and started a new sport we’re calling “Sand Dune Frisbee”. Spent the night outside as usual but this time the wind picked up and man was it cold (felt around freezing).

And on the final day went roaming through the dunes visiting a few lakes; was rather exciting at times as the truck was driven up and down a couple exceptionally steep slopes (quite impressive what the vehicle/driver were capable of); a few times Abdulla took us over the peak of something that the other drivers wouldn’t do 🙂

Stopped at the last lake for lunch and a swim; they say the lake is 7 times saltier than the ocean (1 guy claimed it’s saltier than the dead sea); was still fairly cold outside and not feeling like swimming but it had to be done. Apparently it was also connected to a hot spring or something because the top foot or so was ice cold, but below that it was bath water warm! Floated around for a few minutes and that was enough; funny how difficult swimming in such buoyant water is – you could easily float upright and keep your hands, head and shoulders out of the water.

Ate lunch with the most flies buzzing around I’ve ever seen, played a bit of guitar they had there, spent a couple hours driving back through the sand to the original camp we started at!

The trip was wonderful; if it weren’t for the lack of showering for so long, I’d be happy to still be out there now. Was strange the feeling we got when we stopped in Jerma; I really didn’t feel like interacting with anyone and just wanted to get back on the truck and head to the nearest sand dune!!